(Some of this post references the TidBITS newsletter published on 18 September, 2006.)
Here's what I think the iTV needs to be successful: an internal hard drive. Without one, it's just an overpriced video adapter with an HDMI connection. For $200 more than the iTV's planned price, I can get a fully-functional Mac Mini.
A large internal hard drive, for centralized storage of media files (at 1+GB per movie, an active movie buyer's hard drive will fill up quite quickly, especially as Apple adds more films to its library. Already, my iTunes library is at 30GB, and that's just music and maybe two or three videos. Plus, central storage of media eliminates the need to synchronize files between computers in the same household--just don't put the same silly restriction that the iPod has and not let users copy the files back to their own hard drives. (More on that in a minute.) And, at the risk of suggesting that Apple overextend itself, might I suggest then converting it to a DVR? With TiVo's popularity, Apple could get in on the sales. One device to record TV *and* watch movies? Sign me up. (I don't suppose the studios would ever go for then allowing the TV shows to be archived to your computer for viewing on the road...)
If electronic distribution takes over and physical media goes by the wayside, I don't suppose the lack of a DVD player is a huge problem. However, until such time, one with a DVD player, I think, would be yet more popular--one device to handle recorded TV shows, watch downloaded TV shows and downloaded movies, *and* watch your already-purchased DVDs? DEFINITELY sign me up today. (And again, I don't suppose the studios would ever allow these movies to be converted--i.e., ripped--for easier storage--even if Apple could ensure that it stayed in a copy-protected form similar to the iTunes-downloaded movies. I suppose Mac The Ripper is going to remain the only method to do so--and Apple had BETTER NOT make only iTS-downloaded media viewable on the iTV.)
As far as the new iTunes only allowing iTS-purchased music to be transferred back from an iPod to a computer--as the article said--is, while welcome, silly. I understand that Apple doesn't want to use the iPod as a means to massively and illegally distribute music files to other computers owned by other people, but here's the big flaw with that argument: if I want to give that music to my friends, I already have ways that are just as easy, whether electronically (with a minimum of know-how, you can create a "hidden" web site using the stock OS X built-in Apache web server, and email, while cumbersome, is another way, especially with big accounts like Gmail) or physically (data/MP3 CDs or even regular audio CDs that can be re-ripped). In fact, I'd almost say it's as much of a hassle to bring an iPod over and remember to bring the cable or dock as it is to burn a CD of the files. I suppose the only advantage of an iPod is you can give your friend all 12GB or whatever of your music files in one fell swoop. Still, it's an easy workaround and therefore a silly restriction.
Last, as far as the quality and download time for media from the iTS: I can say two things: downloads are too slow (about 70-80 KB/sec, or .5-.6 mbps), and the quality on my 17" PowerBook is more than acceptable. (I can't yet vouch for the same content as viewed on a larger HDTV monitor.) While it is a third of the million pixels of HD video, the iTS's 640 x 480 (VGA) does perform comparably to standard NTSC TV resolution and standard DVD resolution (all three have roughly 300-350,000 pixels, depending on whether it's widescreen or fullscreen). The H.264 encoding is pretty darn good, in my experience, so I'm not surprised that DVD quality is being achieved in 1/4 the space that a DVD's MPEG-2 format requires.
The article says, "Download time will be slow, for sure, though the details will depend on variables other than just size." While I've only downloaded a couple of TV shows and lots of smaller music files, I would not bother to download movies. At the speed I was getting--which was over an OC-12 connection at a university, so I know it wasn't congestion on my end--I would have to wait 10+ hours. If I'm in the mood for an impulse buy, I can go to Costco and get the DVD for the same price (with extras) and in under an hour. Apple uses Akamai for its distribution--thus there should be absolutely no reason why there should be any limit to the download speed. See my extensive discussion on this matter at the Apple Discussion Boards.
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http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=641135&tstart=0>
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